Posted by The Retreat

This stove is made very well from heavy duty steel tubing.  The welds are top notch and it should last a very long time.  It has a grill top that is hinged and swings back so that it is not in the road when lighting the stove.  You can also use the grill top to cook meat and other food directly on the heavy duty grill top.  It also comes with a clean out port on the bottom on the back so that you can clean out coals as you go so the stove does not get clogged up with ashes.

  The stove has removable legs that can be stored inside the stove when not in use.  This feature makes this stove very easy to transport and it does not weigh as much as I thought it would.  I was surprised at how easy this stove was to light and keep going.  It has a front vent under the port for loading wood into the stove.  This vent gives the stove an excellent draft and makes the stove operate with little or no smoke.  It burns very hot and is easy to control the heat level by how much wood you put into it.

  The legs are attached by wing nuts with a washer so all you have to do is put the leg into the slot and then just tighten the wing nut down hand tight.  Cleaning this stove out is super easy.  You just let it cool down and tip it over and shake it out.  The one thing that I did not like was the fact that the metal is so heavy duty that it takes a bit for it to cool down but that can’t be helped and is just a minor problem.

  I have been looking for an alternative method for cooking outside and have looked at many different ways to do this.  I thought about getting a good barbecue grill that took briquettes or other fuel but they were so inefficient and heated up a big area and took more fuel than I wanted to use.  I also looked at smaller wood burning backpack type stoves but they did not provide enough heat for cooking a meal for more than one person.

  This stove puts out enough heat and concentrates it is a small enough area that you are using your fuel in the most economic way.  I just gathered up sticks and twigs from around my yard and had enough heat to cook pork chops in a cast iron frying pan.  Cast iron is by far the best way to cook with this stove and will also last you a life time.  I liked how it cooked so much that I went out and splurged at the Army/Navy store and got a 14 inch cast iron frying pan and a large dutch oven.  I already had a 12 inch frying pan and a smaller dutch oven so now I have pretty much all I need to cook with.  I am still looking for a cast iron griddle and some accessories to go with the set.

  These stoves are American made by hand in Texas and that is a big bonus to me.  They are a smaller company and their customer service is excellent.  I am a big supporter of small business and prefer the service I get from this type of company.  I know from how well this is built that I will have this stove for a life time and it will work great for taking camping with the family.